If it's Wednesday, we're reviewing.

We finally got our hands on one of our most anticipated new book series of 2016 and we weren’t disappointed. Details on the upcoming release from Heidi Heilig after the jump.

From the book flap:

It was the kind of August day that hinted at monsoons, and the year was 1774, though not for very much longer.

Sixteen-year-old Nix Song is a time-traveller. She, her father and their crew of time refugees travel the world aboard The Temptation, a glorious pirate ship stuffed with treasures both typical and mythical. Old maps allow Nix and her father to navigate not just to distant lands, but distant times – although a map will only take you somewhere once. And Nix’s father is only interested in one time, and one place: Honolulu 1868. A time before Nix was born, and her mother was alive. Something that puts Nix’s existence rather dangerously in question…

Nix has grown used to her father’s obsession, but only because she’s convinced it can’t work. But then a map falls into her father’s lap that changes everything. And when Nix refuses to help, her father threatens to maroon Kashmir, her only friend (and perhaps, only love) in a time where Nix will never be able to find him. And if Nix has learned one thing, it’s that losing the person you love is a torment that no one can withstand. Nix must work out what she wants, who she is, and where she really belongs before time runs out on her forever.

Overall: Time travel can be tricky subject matter for any author, no matter how schooled they may be in the space-time continuum, the relativity of time, and temporal paradoxes. Luckily for me, I had Heidi Heilig’s gorgeous prose to guide me through the life and times of The Girl from Everywhere. I absolutely loved it from the first line to the final word.

One of the very first things I loved about this book is Nix. She is a girl caught between times, sailing on a ship she’s not sure she wants to be on, trying to be her father’s (Slate’s) daughter, while simultaneously taking care of him, and staying with him while secretly planning to get run away from him. She’s conflicted and adrift on this time travel journey that is her life. Luckily for us and for Nix, she is surrounded by three shipmates who are her life preservers, Bee, Rotgut and Kashmir. Heilig pays special attention to these characters and makes them as rich and diverse and real as the travels of the Temptation. They provide a richness and depth to Nix’s experiences and are one of my very favorite parts of the this book. To me, they were like three points of a compass always there to guide Nix, grounding her. I loved that Heilig drafted these gorgeous and complicated characters instead of making them charicatures from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Another aspect of this novel I really loved was the romance. I SHIP it (get it? GET IT?). Desperately. Heilig draws you into it, slowly and gradually, where you don’t even realize it’s happening and all of a sudden, you are dangling from a thin string hoping and wishing for more. It was super hot without being overtly sexual, which can be a tough line to tow.

Finally, I will mention that Heilig obviously skillfully researched the history of her novel and included a very thoughtful Author’s Note. I’m just wondering why she didn’t translate the word Amira. Like, really, it’s the only word she didn’t translate in my ARC. I hope that gets fixed in the final printing of the novel because I didn’t even want to Google search it.

Judge a Book by its Cover: This cover is so gorgeous. So, so gorgeous. I want to marry it. Since that’s illegal, it inspired an outfit instead.

A post shared by YAWednesdays (@yawednesdays) on Jan 29, 2016 at 1:07pm PST

Me Talk Pretty: This is a very quotable book. Very, very quotable. These are but a few of my favorites from the advanced reader’s copy I received (in other words, they may not be the final words used in the published novel).

“Farmers may rise to roosters, but sailors rise to swearing.”

“Clothes have always told my lies for me.”

“”The harbor had become a winter forest of bare masts, lit by smoky torches that made the water sparkle like a scattering of black diamonds.”

“What new shoes would I discover if I could only travel those few inches.”

Audiobook Narration: I read a paper copy of the novel, but I would listen to this audio narrator.

Kick-Ass Factor: Nix is a fearless adventurer, but she also fearlessly loves her ship family. She’ll do anything for them and that makes her completely kick-ass in my book.

Don’t Believe the Hype: Just to give you an idea of the demand for this book, Heidi ran out of the pre-order incentives for this novel on January 11th. Everyone wants this book and the reasons are very well-founded.

Bizarre Love Triangle: I plead the fifth.

Open tab/Last call: I am very, very much looking forward to continuing this journey. Heilig definitely has an open tab with me, possibly for Mai Tai’s at Latitude 29 in NOLA?

The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig, 464 pages, is expected to be published on February 16, 2016 by Greenwillow Books.

9 thoughts on “First Reads Friday: The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig”

I love the cover of this book! It took me forever to realize that there are eyes in the blue wave. 😀 Sadly, I abhorred the book (you rarely catch me saying that!), and I’m not sure I’ll be reading the sequel. Time-travel books really are tricky, but that aspect wasn’t one of the ones that made me want to launch this book into volcano. Not for me, I suppose. There have been some really positive reviews, so I’m glad it seems to be a popular book. 🙂

Thank you. It’s funny, one of the girls at the bookstore gave it to me and told me she ‘hate read’ it. I wasn’t expecting to like it, and it took me 200 pages to really get into it, but I was totally sold. I think Heilig is an excellent writer. It’s what kept me going when I was ready to walk away. Time travel is divisive–people love or hate it.

I SO want this book even though I’m slightly nervous that I’ll be disappointed because of all the hype. Btw, I love the way you inject humor into your review format.Ie.,Me talk Pretty, etc. I’m so happy I found this blog!

I really did gush, didn’t I? Admittingly, it’s a little slow, but I overall enjoyed it. Also, I do believe my enjoyment was founded in not trying to apply science to the way time travel was used in this novel. I’ll be curious of your review when you get to it.

Well the worst thing is I hate it and add it to the list of bad books to write about, or the best is I actually get to read a good book for a change. Actually, at worst I would feel completely neutral about it.